Pyongyang Developing Small Nuclear Weapon To Fit Atop Its Missiles
North Korea fired missiles into the Yellow Sea, as the isolated regime separately is developing smaller-sized nuclear weapons as warheads for its missiles, according to news reports.
Separately, the communist nation is continuing to develop its Taepo Dong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile that, when operational, would be able to strike targets in the United States.
And the North is working to miniaturize its nuclear weapons so they can be fitted atop missiles as warheads.
These developments, which some Western observers find troubling, come as North Korea has backtracked from its pledge to de-nuclearize. It has said it will rebuild and restart a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor at Yongbyon that the North earlier had partially demolished.
While the United States is pressing North Korea to return to compliance with its promises in a six-party-talks agreement, the North has yet to surrender even one of its nuclear weapons to international inspectors.
Further, Pyongyang has yet to offer any explanation as to why, when it denies having conducted a highly enriched uranium (HEU) program in addition to its plutonium weapons program, traces of HEU were discovered on documents that North Korea provided to the West.
North Korea two years ago successfully detonated a nuclear weapon in an underground test.
In the test shots, North Korea fired two short-range missiles as part of training exercises, according to The Seoul Times, which quoted news services.
Those weapons were either KN-02 or Styx missiles.
North Korea has had several successful missile tests, including a mass salvo firing of seven weapons in 2006 where all launched as planned except the Taepo Dong ICBM, which destructed several seconds after liftoff.
North Korea now is working hard to perfect the ICBM, including a test motor firing, according to The Times of India.